Oxbo merges with Dutch firm

Oxbo International just announced a merger with the Dutch equipment manufacturer Ploeger Agro. The two harvest equipment manufacturers report that the merger will help them market their niche products internationally. In new international markets such as Brazil and China, the company will use the new name Ploeger Oxbo Group. But in established markets, both manufacturers will continue to operate with their current names and brands. The new company is headquartered in the Netherlands.

Both companies have collaborated for nearly 20 years, reported Gary Stich, president of Oxbo. “Working together, we can accomplish things that we just could not do as individual companies,” he said. “For example, we could sell more Oxbo olive harvesters in Europe, and more easily offer Ploeger potato and fine bean harvesters in North America.”

“This new arrangement allows our companies to freely exchange technology and product information, and to cooperate in complex initiatives such as offering our products to customers in new countries,” said Ad Ploeger, general manager of Ploeger Agro.

The new company is owned by five groups: Ploeger and Oxbo executives, VDL (a Dutch manufacturing company) and two Dutch investment firms, Van Lanschot Participaties and Synergia. It will be controlled by a four-member board of directors, including Stich and Andy Talbott, vice president of sales at Oxbo; along with Ploeger and Cees Van Beek, technical director at Ploeger.

Oxbo, headquartered in Byron, N.Y., manufactures a wide range of specialty agricultural equipment, including seed corn harvesters. The company employs more than 400 workers in three main manufacturing facilities, including one in Clear Lake, Wis.

Ploeger Machines supplies a full line of harvesters for the processing vegetable industry. It operates manufacturing facilities in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.